这事令约拿十分不悦,非常恼怒。 他向耶和华祷告说:“耶和华啊,我在家乡的时候岂不早就说过你会这样做吗?我知道你是一位有恩典、有怜悯的上帝,不轻易发怒,充满慈爱,不忍心降灾,所以我才急速逃往他施。 耶和华啊,求你收回我的性命吧,我死了比活着还好!” 耶和华对他说:“你这样大发脾气合理吗?”

于是,约拿跑到城外,在城东为自己搭了一个棚,坐在棚下荫凉处,要看看尼尼微城究竟会怎样。 后来,耶和华上帝安排了一棵蓖麻迅速地长起来,为约拿遮荫,使他的头免受日晒。约拿因有这棵蓖麻而非常欢喜。 第二天黎明的时候,上帝却安排了一条虫来咬这棵蓖麻,蓖麻就枯萎了。 太阳出来的时候,上帝刮起燥热的东风,烈日把约拿晒得发昏,他就再次求死说:“我死了比活着还好!”

上帝对约拿说:“你为这棵蓖麻大发脾气合理吗?”约拿回答说:“我就是气死了也合理。” 10 耶和华说:“这棵蓖麻不是你种的,也不是你栽培的,它在一夜之间长成,又在一夜之间死去,你尚且如此爱惜, 11 我怎能不爱惜这尼尼微大城呢?城中单是连左右手都分不清的人就有十二万多,还有许多的牲畜。”

Enojo de Jonás

Pero esto disgustó mucho a Jonás, y le hizo enfurecerse. Así que oró al Señor de esta manera:

―¡Oh Señor! ¿No era esto lo que yo decía cuando todavía estaba en mi tierra? Por eso me anticipé a huir a Tarsis, pues bien sabía que tú eres un Dios bondadoso y compasivo, lento para la ira y lleno de amor, que cambias de parecer y no destruyes. Así que ahora, Señor, te suplico que me quites la vida. ¡Prefiero morir que seguir viviendo!

―¿Tienes razón de enfurecerte tanto? —le respondió el Señor.

Jonás salió y acampó al este de la ciudad. Allí hizo una enramada y se sentó bajo su sombra para ver qué iba a suceder con la ciudad. Para aliviarlo de su malestar, Dios el Señor dispuso una planta,[a] la cual creció hasta cubrirle a Jonás la cabeza con su sombra. Jonás se alegró muchísimo por la planta. Pero al amanecer del día siguiente Dios dispuso que un gusano la hiriera, y la planta se marchitó. Al salir el sol, Dios dispuso un viento oriental abrasador. Además, el sol hería a Jonás en la cabeza, de modo que este desfallecía. Con deseos de morirse, exclamó: «¡Prefiero morir que seguir viviendo!»

Pero Dios le dijo a Jonás:

―¿Tienes razón de enfurecerte tanto por la planta?

―¡Claro que la tengo! —le respondió—. ¡Me muero de rabia!

10 El Señor le dijo:

―Tú te compadeces de una planta que, sin ningún esfuerzo de tu parte, creció en una noche y en la otra pereció. 11 Y de Nínive, una gran ciudad donde hay más de ciento veinte mil personas que no distinguen su derecha de su izquierda, y tanto ganado, ¿no habría yo de compadecerme?

Footnotes

  1. 4:6 planta. Palabra de difícil traducción.

And Jonah was tormented with great torment, and was wroth. (And Jonah was greatly tormented, and was very angry, about what happened.)

And he prayed to the Lord, and said, Lord, I beseech, whether this is not my word, when I was yet in my land? For this thing I purposed for to flee into Tarshish; for I know, that thou, God, art meek and merciful, patient, and of much merciful doing, and forgiving of malice. (And he prayed to the Lord, and said, Lord, I beseech thee, was this not just what I said would happen, when I was still in my own land? For this very reason I fled to Tarshish; for I knew, that thou, God, art humble and merciful, patient, and of much merciful doing, and forgiving of malice.)

And now, Lord, I pray, take my life from me; for death is better to me than life.

And the Lord said, Guessest thou, whether thou art well wroth? (And the Lord said, Thinkest thou, that thou art right to be so angry?)

And Jonah went out of the city, and sat against the east of the city, and made to him a shadowing place there; and sat under it in shadow, till he saw what befell to the city. (And Jonah went out of the city, and sat down to the east of it, and made a place of shade for himself; and he sat there in the shadows/and he sat there in the shade, until he saw what befell the city.)

And the Lord God made ready an ivy, and it went upon the head of Jonah, that (a) shadow/that shade were on his head, and covered him; for he had travailed. And Jonah was glad on the ivy, with great gladness. (And the Lord God made ready some ivy, and it went up over Jonah’s head, so that a shadow, or some shade, was over his head, and it covered him; for he had laboured so. And Jonah was glad for the ivy, yea, with great gladness.)

And God made ready a worm, in the going up of gray day on the morrow; and it smote the ivy, and it dried up. (And then God made ready a worm, at the dawning of the day the next morning; and it struck, or attacked, the ivy, and it dried up, and died.)

And when the sun was risen, the Lord commanded to the hot wind and burning; and the sun smote on the head of Jonah, and he sweltered. And he asked to his soul that he should die, and said, It is better to me to die, than to live. (And when the sun was risen, the Lord commanded to the hot and burning wind; and the sun shone down upon Jonah’s head, and he sweated. And he said to himself that he wanted to die, yea, he said, It is better for me to die, than to live.)

And the Lord said to Jonah, Guessest thou, whether thou art well wroth on the ivy? And he said, I am well wroth, till to the death. (And the Lord said to Jonah, Thinkest thou, that thou art right to be so angry about the ivy? And he said, Yea, I am right to be so angry about it, unto the death!)

10 And the Lord said, Thou art sorry on the ivy, in which thou travailedest not, neither madest that it waxed, which was grown under one night, and perished in one night. (And the Lord said, Thou art sorry about, or thou art grieved over, the ivy, over which thou hast not laboured, nor madest that it grew, and furthermore which grew up in one night, and then perished in one night.)

11 And shall I not spare the great city Nineveh, in which be more than sixscore thousand of men, which know not what is betwixt their right half and left half, and many beasts? (And yet should I not be sorry over, and so then spare the great city Nineveh, in which be more than one hundred and twenty thousand people, who know not their right hand from their left hand, yea, and the many beasts that also be there?)